


You Could Call It a Cardiovascular Workout and You Wouldn't Be Wrong

by T Verano (t_verano)



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Community: sentinel_thurs, M/M, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 23:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19896526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_verano/pseuds/T%20Verano
Summary: Jim's at the gym, and he has an appreciative audience.





	You Could Call It a Cardiovascular Workout and You Wouldn't Be Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Sentinel Thursday challenge 632: "muscle"

One more set. Twenty reps...

Fourteen... 

Twelve... 

Eight... 

Five. Four. Three. Two. One. 

_Done._

Jim set the dumbbell down onto the bench after finishing his final concentration curl and picked up his towel to mop the sweat off his face and arms. 

As he discarded the towel and stood, he saw her looking at him again. There was nothing subtle about it. Her eyes were working their way slowly up his body, lingering with apparent appreciation on every muscle group they could latch on to. 

It wasn't the first time she'd looked her fill. Every time Jim had taken a quick breather during the past hour, he'd found her checking him out. He hadn't noticed her staring at anyone else in the gym, crowded as it was this evening. Just him. 

Her gaze finished getting up close and personal with his traps and moved on, climbing until her eyes met Jim's. And held there, as she racked her barbell without looking and stood up. She started winding her way through the benches and machines towards him, not once taking her eyes off his face. 

She moved like an athlete. No surprise there; her muscle tee and spandex leggings didn't leave a hell of a lot to the imagination, and she was clearly in shape. And built. Maybe he should put in a call to Missing Persons, see if _Sports Illustrated_ was short a swimsuit model. 

Five feet away she stopped. Stood there for a moment; legs up to her armpits, her skin slick with sweat, copper-red hair piled up on top of her head loosely, like it wouldn't take anything at all to get that hair spilling down over her shoulders so you could run your hands through it. 

"Haven't seen you in here before." Her voice had a little husk to it that matched up perfectly with the your-place-or-mine expression in her eyes. Green eyes, with long, dark eyelashes framing them. Her bottom lip was a little puffy and damp, like she'd been chewing on it while she was working the weights. 

And watching him. 

Jim tilted his head to the side and rubbed at a knot in his neck. He kept his tone neutral. "My usual place is closed for renovations."

The woman smiled. "Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I hope those renovations take a while." She stepped close enough to offer her hand. "I'm Erin."

"Jim." 

She held the handshake longer than necessary and used it to reel herself in towards Jim until she was just the wrong side of a little too close. Or the right side, depending on your point of view. 

Jim found himself smiling. "I'm flattered --"

"All this," she cut in, her eyes making a quick trip over his body again before returning to his face, "with a smile like that, and a gentleman, too. My horoscope _did_ promise an interesting development this evening." 

Jim's smile widened involuntarily, but she must have read something in his face, since her lips quirked ruefully, and she stepped back with a sigh. "There's a 'but' coming up, isn't there?" she said. 

"There is," Jim agreed. "Nice to meet you, Erin, but it actually doesn't matter how long the renovation takes. I'm --"

His train of thought derailed as a conversation out in the lobby caught his ear. His felt his smile turn into a grin as Blair came through the members-only door, having -- unsurprisingly -- wheedled his way past the front desk, and paused to look around. 

Erin turned to see what Jim was looking at just as Blair spotted Jim, and she sighed again. "Ah," she said, and her voice was as rueful as her smile had become. "Looks like you already have a workout partner."

Maybe she'd read something in Jim's face again, or maybe she'd read it in Blair's. Didn't matter; she was right. "I have a partner, yeah," Jim confirmed. Six months in and counting, since they'd turned Blair's former bedroom into an office. He picked up his towel. "If you'll excuse me..."

Erin stepped back, her lips still quirked ruefully. "Sure," she said. "See you around, Jim."

As he crossed the room, heading towards Blair, Jim could feel her eyes on his back. Didn't matter, even if it was flattering.

Jim had a suspicion it would never matter again.


End file.
